Flower of my Heart
by Freline
Summary: An unexpected meeting with a girl turns Frodo s quiet life with Bilbo upside down. As she pulls him into her life and her secrets, he soon realizes that nothing will be the same anymore.
1. Chapter 1

Frodo Baggins walked down the street away from Bag End, about to leave for the birthday of his friend Merry in Buckland, when he first noticed her. She was coming from the other direction, a basket full of flowers in one hand. As she passed, she accidently touched his arm and he immediately felt like he was on fire. He turned around and stared after her until she was out of sight. Then he shook his head, telling himself to forget her, he was only sixteen after all and she appeared to be about two years younger. He continued on his way and eventually reached the border of Buckland on the evening the following day. Merry´s birthday would be the day after and he wondered what his young friend had planned this time.

For the last few years, Merry and Pippin, another of his friends had make a game of outdoing each other at the birthday parties. Currently Merry was leading as master of surprises, with Pippin not far behind. Frodo smiled to himself as he reached Brandy Hall and saw the decorations that had been put up. Every corner of the garden was full of paper dragons, each of them appearing to spit fire at the guests. In the middle of the garden a table had been set for more than two hundred Hobbits. On one end, where Merry would be sitting, a huge cake stood on the table, it was so big that Frodo secretly wondered how they had managed to bring it here from the kitchen.

Merry and Pippin joined him a few minutes later, shaking hands briefly, then the three started to tell each other what had happened in the last four months since they had been at Bag End for the birthday of Frodo and his uncle Bilbo. Then the guests started to arrive. Most of them were inhabitants of Brandy Hall, but there were also a few Tooks, relatives of Pippin and some other friends of all of them, including Fredegar Bolger and Samwise Gamgee.

Frodo tried his best to follow the conversation of his friends, but his thoughts continued to return to the unknown Hobbit girl, feeling that he would like to see her again and he wondered if he would ever get the chance. The evening wore on and he excused himself as he started to get tired. Merry took him to one of the guest rooms and wished him a good night. Despite being tired he had a hard time of falling asleep. When he finally did sleep, his dreams were haunted by the unknown girl.


	2. Chapter 2

Lycoris Underhill quickly left the house before her annoying little sister Anemone could catch up to her. They had just moved here from Bree, as her mother wanted to take care of her aunt, who had fallen critically ill during the last month and could not be moved, so the family came to live with her. Turning around the corner of the street, she stopped as she came across a beautiful garden, one like she had never seen before. Whoever the hobbit living here was, he or she was a really good gardener. After a while, a young boy appearing around her age, came out of the door, carrying a bundle over his shoulder. After closing the door and coming out on the street, he stopped and looked at her, his mouth wide open, before he shook his head and walked away.

Lycoris turned and watched him until he was out of sight, before she continued to explore. She smiled to herself. Although she had never seen such an expression aimed towards herself, she was old enough to know that he was interested in her, whoever he might be. She did not have several older cousins for nothing. Gathering her courage, she walked up to the door he had come from and knocked. An elder hobbit with grey hair opened and looked at her curiously. Before she had the chance to say anything, he smiled and said: "Well, I do not know you, so I assume that you must be new here. My name is Bilbo Baggins and you are?"

After Lycoris had introduced herself, Bilbo invited her inside for tea. While they ate, they talked about everything that came to their minds and she found him to be very interesting. He seemed to have an endless supply of adventure stories, though she did not know if she should believe him as he told her that he once went and helped a group of dwarves reclaim their home from a dragon and had fought in a battle against orcs. He even showed her the sword he claimed to have used then.

It grew dark much too early for her liking. She would have liked to talk to Bilbo for a while longer. He might be a bit eccentric, but she found that she liked the old man. Before she left, she quickly asked him about the boy she had seen earlier. Bilbo smiled and replied: "He is my nephew, his name is Frodo. He is visiting a friend, who is living in Buckland for his fourteenth birthday in two days. He will return in about a week, you can come back then, if you would like to meet him."

Lycoris thanked him, said goodbye and then went home, knowing that her mother would be angry if she did not return in time for the evening meal. She got back in time to help with setting the table for her parents, sisters and brothers. Including herself, there were six of them, with Lycoris at fifteen being the oldest.

The second was Anemone, twelve, Cardo, ten, Cosmea, eight and the twins Jasko and Mallow, six. Lycoris noticed that all of them were watching her strangely during the meal and she could not blame them. Usually she was not so distracted, but her thoughts kept wandering to Bilbo and Frodo. She regretted that she had not found the courage to talk to him today. If he was even remotely as interesting as his uncle had been, he would be a good friend and maybe something more with time. After all, he had looked different to other hobbit boys her age. Something in his face reminded her of the pictures of elves Bilbo had shown her. After the plates had been washed and put away, Lycoris quickly said good night to her family, claiming she was tired, but in truth she just wanted to avoid any questions about what had gotten her so distracted. Lying in her bed, she stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep until long after midnight. When she finally did fall asleep, she dreamt of exploring the world together with Frodo.


End file.
